Daily Cryptocurrency Bulletin For Thursday, August 15, 2019

General News

Walmart has reasserted its interest in blockchain-backed drones with a patent application, entitled “Cloning Drones Using Blockchain”. The blockchain-based coordination system patent was published the same day as Walmart’s digital currency patent application.

Santander is ceasing to enable United Kingdom customers to deposit their fiat funds to major cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase. The complaints unit reportedly revealed the restriction was likely due to the bank’s attempts to tackle an apparent increase in Coinbase-related fraud. This follows reports Barclays has cut its own ties with Coinbase yesterday.

SIX Digital Exchange (SDX), the cryptocurrency-focused arm of the country’s principal SIX Swiss Exchange, has lost their CEO. Martin Halblaub is departing the company after eight months into his job following disagreements on how the trading platform should be run.  

Nevada’s regulatory stance on cryptocurrency kiosks has shifted, now requiring a state money transmission license and a surety bond requirement.

Cryptocurrencies 

Bitcoin $10,088.55 USD (-4.23 percent) fell by more than $900 in 24 hours – marking the worst single-day loss in a month. BTC dipped down to $9,500, but bulls are attempting a recovery with the price surging back above $10,000 today. 

Cardano $0.046725 USD (-9.84 percent) creator Charles Hoskinson says the platform will implement a major upgrade in a matter of days. Version 1.6 includes a long list of bug fixes and improvements, including an overhaul of Cardano’s crypto wallet Daedalus.

Clams $2.86 USD (-8.79 percent): Poloniex says it will fully reimburse customers affected by the fallout from a recent flash crash. The crash happened back in May when a crypto asset called Clams plunged nearly 80% in a matter of minutes. The force of the crash triggered an error in the company’s automated liquidation system, leaving margin traders with losses of around 1,800 BTC, worth $13.5 million at the time.

Dash $0.046725 USD (-9.84 percent) CEO Ryan Taylor claims, “Dash is the most used cryptocurrency in Venezuela” and this statement has been repeated time and again by Dashpay, hinting crypto is taking off in Venezuela’s economy. But after investigating the true uptake of the crypto in Venezuela, this statement is largely false according to Coindesk. In 2018, 80 percent of merchants in Venezuela reportedly accepted dash. However, the statistic is getting significantly lower following its first audit by Discover Dash.

Ethereum $183.69 USD (-11.00 percent): Moscow’s Information Technologies Department has announced an auction to build an Ethereum-based system that will host the electronic services now offered to Muscovites. The estimated cost of development is stated as 57 million Russian rubles, or $860,000. The list of services to be hosted on the platform includes issuance of documents relating to property owners and residents, and allocation of slots at the city’s farmers markets. The system is to be based on proof-of-authority consensus and have a maximum capacity of 1.5 million simultaneous viewers.

Ripple $0.265333 USD (-9.31 percent) is facing further criticism claiming its price is artificially high as well-known cryptocurrency trader warns of up to 20 percent lossses. Brandt claims Ripple manipulated XRP for years with separate data showing Ripple has sold more XRP in 2019 than at any other time in history. This comes as United States regulators could soon become involved in a lawsuit relating to XRP’s status as a security.

– WN.com, Jamie Saarloos